I took the cylinder apart, it comes in two pieces. I guess I'm just not getting what you're saying. I can't see anything that comes apart other than the two pieces of the cylinder when you turn it.

 

if it has pats there is a roud plastic piece with wires coming out of it mounts around the hole where the lock clyinder is inserted. this is the pats tranceiver, it sends a signal to the key and reads the signal the key sends back. you may have damaged it, i would recommend replacing this part before anything else

 

We might have to take the dang car into our mechanic and have him look at it. We're not figuring this stupid thing out at all. Maybe I need to buy a different lock cylinder with a transponder key or something..

 

that's what I'd do. I have two extra lock cylinders though, i'm getting my car out of the shop today and i'll look to see if they have the piece.

 

Would you do that, and if you could, take some pics and post them, so I know what your talking about. That way maybe I can avoid a $200 bill that I dont have right now.

 

sure thing. my car'll be out of the shop in about 2 hours. If you need the part and can pay shipping, you can have it for free.

 

Here's some more pics of my old lock cylinder....

 

Well, turns out it may not be the lock cylinder alone. I went to the ford dealer here cuz I was sick of not being able to get the aftermarket lock cylinder into the shaft. SOOO I get one correct from the ford dealer, supposedly the correct one. I get it right into the shaft, and BOOM...NOTHING. The lights are on on the instrument cluster, the clock is on and the stereo is on. WTF??? I turn the key, NOTHING. NADA. I turn the key all the way and the stereo and clock turns off. WTH??? I now have a new symptom to play with. Did something get broken inside the steering column itself?

 

can you hear the starter?

 

I dont hear a thing when I turn the key...when I turn it to the start position everything that's on, shuts off, the clock the stereo....and those are stuck in the on position for some reason. They are on even when the key is out of the ignition...when they shouldnt be on.